The final round of the World Youth Chess Championship that started at 10:00 a.m. ended. The local hero Kubra Ozturk who is also 2007 and 2008 European Champion beat her Kazakh opponent WFM Guliskhan Nakhbayeva to take the bronze medal in the U-18 girls’ category. Congratulations to all the players that finished in the top three places in each category.

The tournament closed with the awards ceremony where the top 6 boards of each category were invited to stage and given medals and presents by the Turkish Chess Federation. The deputy governor of Antalya Mr. Fuat Ergün, the FIDE deputy president Georgios Makropoulos, the president of Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici, the president of Syria Chess Federation Dr. Hani Al-Bitar, the Chairman of FIDE Verification Commission Lakhdar Mazouz, the district governor of Kemer Bayramali Kose, the Mayor of the Municipality of Kemer Mustafa Gül, the Youth and Sports director of Kemer Taliye Magden, the players and the parents all attended the closing and awards ceremony. In their speeches The FIDE deputy president Makropoulos thanked everyone for this successful organization on behalf of FIDE, the Kemer district governor Bayramali Kose expressed his appreciation and pleasure to be the hosting city for this event and he stated the city’s intentions to host more chess events and activities in the future. After the speeches and the presentation of the memorial plates, the awards ceremony took place. You can find the photos of the closing ceremony from the "Photo Gallery" link on the left.

Have a nice trip back home! Hope to meet you again in 2012 Chess Olympiads!

With one round left to the end of the World Youth Chess Championship, the competitions for the top places are very fierce and intense. You can find a summary of the results of the 10th round games, the players that have the chance to finish in top three places and the best performers in each group below. In the meantime the president of the Syria Chess Federation Dr. Hani Al-Bitar and the president of the Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici presented memorial plates to the arbiters of the tournament.

The final round starts at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.

All the arbiters of the tournament after the memorial plate giving ceremony

U-8 category: Iranian Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei beat the second seed of
the group, his fellow countryman Aryan Gholami to take the sole lead
with 8.5 points. Gholami is second with 8 points and American Tanuj
Vasudeva is third with 7.5 points. In the girls’ category American
player Samritha Palakollu who earned a half point in this round shares
the top spot with Chinese Ruotong Chu. The couple is followed by Indian
Muthyala Bansi Prathima with 7.5 points.

General Director of Youth and Sports Yunus Akgül paid a visit to the World Youth Chess Championship which takes place in Antalya, Kemer between 11-23 November 2009. Akgul explored the tournament halls and got information about the event from the president of Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici. Afterwards Akgul met with the young promising players of Turkish national team and the group had a memorial photograph taken.

With two rounds until the final, the top performers and results are as follows:

U-8 category: The players with the black pieces won on the top four boards. The second seed Iranian Aryan Gholami leads with 8 points while another Iranian Mohammad Amin Tabatabei is second with 7.5 points. Tanuj Vasudeva from USA is third on the standings with 7 points. In the girls’ category the Indian player Muthyala Bans Prathima lost to the American player Samritha Palakollu and and this put her back on the fifth place on the standings. Palakollu is the sole leader with 8 points, where the Chinese Ruotong Chu is second with 7.5 and the Kazakh Gulziya Demeuova is third with 7 points.

After the 8th round of the World Youth Chess Championship, the important results, the players playing for top positions and the general view are as follows:

In the U-8 general category the second seed Iranian Aryan Gholami left the first board with a half point whereas the American Tanuj Vasudeva won his match and with these results they share the first and second places on the standings. They are followed by Iranian Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei, Kazakh Ramazan Zhalmakhanov and Indian Guha Mitrabha with 6.5 points each. In the girls category Indian Muthyala Bansi Prathima beat Chinese Ruotong Chu who had 6.5 points before this round and this puts the Indian player still at the third place on the standings after Samritha Palakollu from USA and Chinese Chu.